Explore our Chemistry with Scientific Writing taught Master's degree.

P-F1PB

MSc

1 year full-time

25 September 2023

Chemistry

University of Warwick

Communicating science is a challenging topic, but Chemistry with Scientific Writing MSc course has been expertly designed to build on your subject knowledge of Chemistry. This course will provide you with a strong grasp on scientific writing and how to apply it. Warwick is highly ranked within UK league tables, and is 64th in the world (QS World University Rankings 2023). This course has been designed for those looking to undertake further study or a career in communicating science.

This MSc will help you to build your subject knowledge of Chemistry while also enhancing your ability to communicate science, with a focus on writing for scientific publications or communication in the media.

You will gain a Master’s-level education in technical chemistry modules and develop key research skills by completing a project in one of our world-class research groups, using state-of-the-art synthesis and equipment.

By the end of the course, you will possess advanced chemical knowledge alongside the ability to effectively communicate often complex scientific concepts to others, preparing you for a career in research, scientific writing, science education or science communication.

You can find out more about the Department of Chemistry by joining our webinarLink opens in a new window.

Professor Martin Wills is the head of the MSc in Chemistry with Scientific Writing. Please contact chem-pgt at warwick dot ac dot uk with any specific Department of Chemistry questions, where our staff are available to discuss any queries.

The first 23 weeks are lecture-based, providing you with a diverse range of skills in analytical sciences to complete a successful 22-week research project.

Class sizes range from 5 to 40 students, dependent on modules: some of which are shared across programmes.

Depending on your module choices, you can expect to attend around 10-25 hours of lectures and workshops per week, some modules might also include additional supervised practical sessions (e.g. laboratory work). For each one-hour lecture, you should expect to put in additional time for private study.

Each scientific module is usually between 50% and 80% examined and 20 -50% assessed; the scientific writing modules are 100% assessed; the research project is 100% assessed.

Reading lists

Most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library. If you would like to view reading lists for the current cohort of students you can visit our Warwick Library web page.

Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you and you will be able to choose your optional modules when you join us.

2:i undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a science subject.

• Band A
• IELTS overall score of 6.5, minimum component scores not below 6.0.

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

Writing focused scientific articles and reports

This module is intended to allow you to develop and demonstrate your capacity to communicate scientific concepts through writing short, focused scientific articles. It will facilitate engagement with a variety of audiences and the use of a range of strategies to describe scientific procedures, summarise and disseminate findings, write reviews, and formulate effective instructions. It also aims to develop critical thinking and peer review skills.

Writing extended scientific articles and reports

This module provides a genre-based focus on academic scientific papers. Through a focus on models of professional writing, it explores particular features of science papers such as how to reference the literature, where and when to outline the methodology, and how to present results and conclusions. An integral part of this approach is for participants to bring along samples of their own writing (e.g. lab reports or research articles). Students will be asked to provide critiques and action plans, as well as to engage in peer reviews.

Communicating Science to different audiences

This module aims to help you to communicate your research findings accurately and concisely to different audiences. The main focus is on how to communicate in print, radio and TV to non-scientific audiences, but the skills will translate across to your research reports and presentations. It is based on a 3-day non-residential course (but including 1 evening) at Warwick and BBC Coventry and Warwickshire which will consist of a variety of seminars delivered by experts in the field.

Transferable Skills

This module is based around students completing and recording tasks contributing to the development of transferable skills. Students complete a portfolio and reflect on what they have learned. The various aspects of the course cover: working in teams and working with your supervisor, communicating across disciplines using various media e.g. written reports, posters, presentations, web and video, as well as elements of leadership and career development.

22-week Research Project

The module is designed to develop students’ research skills, through an extended project in an area of their chosen discipline. Students will become aware of the elements of research, including appraising the literature, designing novel experiments (practical and/or computational), assessing results and drawing conclusions that they will be able to set against the current field. This module will allow students to be original in their application of knowledge to the solution of new, research-led problems.

• Frontier Techniques in Analytical Science
• Microscopy and Imaging
• Electrochemistry and Sensors
• Chromatography and Separation Science
• Mass Spectrometry
• Magnetic Resonance
• Polymer Synthesis
• Advanced Polymer Synthesis
• Colloid Science I and II
• Physical Properties of Polymers and Nanocomposites
• X-ray and Neutron Techniques
• Advanced Molecular Pharmacology
• Advanced Computational Chemistry
• Advanced Biophysical Chemistry
• Advanced Chemical Biology
• Advanced Medicinal and Biological Chemistry
• Electrochemistry and Nanotechnology
• Energy
• Synthetic Chemistry I (Organic)
• Synthetic Chemistry II (Metallo-organic)
• Synthetic Chemistry III (Macromolecular Chemistry)

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